What kinds of risks are there?

Meeting Someone Online

The most serious problem imaginable is a child who turns up missing or is molested as a result of an online contact. Most of these cases are not strangers bursting into homes and stealing young kids; they are almost all young people who have left home on their own volition, usually after "meeting" someone online ("luring" is the term for online behavior that leads to these meetings). The vast majority of them are over 15 and female. What we have here isn't a case of bad guys snatching children; it's mainly teenagers exercising poor judgment. Nevertheless, luring is illegal, and if your child meets someone online whom you perceive to be a threat to her physical safety, contact law enforcement.

Options (not necessarily recommendations) for preventing your child from meeting someone online who might do harm:

Parents should take an interest in a child's "e-pals" just as they do with friends that kids bring home.
Talk with your child about the dangers of getting together with someone they "meet" online.
Restrict or monitor your child's use of chat functions.
Monitor your child's e-mail and use of Internet newsgroups.
Install a filter that restricts your child from giving out his or her name, address, and phone number.

Loss of Privacy

There are many ways young people and adults can lose their privacy on the Internet, and all have their own dangers. Disclosing your address, telephone number, or even your name to a stranger can put you or family members in danger. It's also important to warn children not to give out information that could jeopardize others - family members, friends, teachers, and classmates.

Sometimes companies and organizations collect information about children for use in marketing, fundraising, and other activities. Children should also be instructed not to give out personal information to Web sites of companies and organizations, even if they have heard of them or have good feelings about them. That includes registering for contests or filling out forms in exchange for prizes, or for the right to download software, or for any other purpose. Children should never reveal any information about themselves without first checking with their parents. Even reputable companies may not obtain information about children without parents' permission; current law protects the privacy of children online. Besides, it's possible for someone to create a Web site that looks like it's from a reputable company but really is not. Software tools exist to restrict sensitive personal information from being transmitted online; you can learn more about them here.

Parents should read the company's privacy policy carefully prior to disclosing personal information about a family member.

Ways to protect your child and family's privacy include:

Instruct your child not to reveal any personal information without parental permission.
Consider installing a filter that prevents your child from entering his or her name, address, phone number, or other material.
Consider installing monitoring software that will disclose if your child has entered personal information.
Consider preventing your child from using chat groups.
Consider monitoring your child's incoming and outgoing e-mail.
Consider limiting chat only to people your child knows or requiring that he chat only in moderated chat areas run by reputable companies or organizations.

File-sharing Risks

Peer-to-peer or file-sharing programs allow you to share your files with others on the Internet -- and vice versa. File-sharing is a new and interesting technology that shows promise for future applications. However, just like you shouldn't open email attachments from people you don't trust, you should be wary about downloading files from them as well. You never know what you or your kids may find on the hard drives of random strangers on the Internet. [How file-sharing works]

The best tip for file-sharing is to stop and think before downloading files through these networks. Some of the risks associated with using file-sharing programs include:

Other file-sharing Risks

Computer Security

Sharing files with people you don't trust is a matter of hygiene -- and you should keep your computer as clean as possible. Using file-sharing networks creates a risk that viruses or other malignant code could be spread to your computer over the network. Computer security experts are starting to see viruses and malignant code (spyware) spread through file-sharing services. Viruses may damage your computer or interfere with your files; spyware may track your online activities and send that information to third parties. Spyware has been spotted in many places on file-sharing networks -- including packaged with the file-sharing clients themselves.

Kids' Access to Pornography

Many file-sharing programs allow children to access inappropriate audio and video clips -- most of a sexually explicit nature. Kids searching for popular music files may sometimes inadvertently pull up sexually explicit files that use the same keywords. For older children, parents should be concerned about their access to other people's video libraries that may contain inappropriate videos. If you're concerned about these things, make sure to check your computer for file-sharing programs. See a list of some file-sharing programs. Some parental-control tools on the market do not restrict access to file-sharing technologies.

Copyright Law

Many things available on file-sharing networks, including many movies, songs, and video games, are copyrighted by the owner. That means the law protects the owner's right to limit who copies and distributes their content. What does a copyright mean for you? It means that downloading or sharing copyrighted music, movies and software without the copyright owner's permission could put you in serious legal trouble. In those cases, you or your family could be violating federal law and may be sued by the copyright owners or by the government. So, make sure that you or your family does not infringe copyrights while using file-sharing networks. Be smart, and keep your file-sharing legal. Don't allow users to upload your music files unless you're certain that you have permission to do so. You can simply disable the upload feature in your file-sharing program so that you don't inadvertently share files without permission. The University of Chicago's Web site has good instructions for disabling the upload feature in most file-sharing programs.

Privacy

If mis-configured, some file-sharing programs may expose your entire hard drive to all other users of the file-sharing software. If you keep sensitive information on your computer, like your tax return information and online bank account data, check to make sure that you are not inadvertently making this available to thousands of strangers on the Internet.

Making Threats / Law Breaking

Kids aren't just potential victims. They can also be responsible for doing things that can hurt other people. This can range from being rude and obnoxious to committing crimes online.

There are several reported cases of kids getting into trouble for posting threatening or harassing material on Web pages, in chat rooms and in newsgroups. Kids should remember that anything they say about anyone can be viewed by people all over the world and can have a damaging effect on the person being talked about. Kids should never post anything about another person that could in any way harm that person. That includes publishing names, addresses, or phone numbers of anyone they know. Kids should refrain from saying bad things about other people in public forums, even if they feel they are true, and even if they are angry with that person. Even what appear to be "positive" comments about someone's appearance can be degrading and have a negative affect on that person.

Making Threats

It is wrong and illegal to threaten, intimidate, or harass other people regardless of whether those threats are delivered in person, on the phone, via the mail, or over the Internet. It can be especially harmful to deliver such threats in a public area such as a Web site, chat room, or bulletin board. If you or your child receive serious and frightening threats online, contact law enforcement.

Parents should talk with their children about the proper way to behave online and with other people and stress that threatening other people is not only wrong but can get the child into trouble at home, at school, or with the law.

Legal Risks

A lot of material posted on the Internet is copyrighted, which means that it might be illegal to reprint or post the material without permission. Kids need to understand that they do not have the right to re-post or distribute copyrighted graphics, music, videos, and text from Web sites without permission. This includes giving copies of the material to friends. There are some conditions where it is OK to use copyrighted material as part of a student paper or other project, but students should always check with their teacher first and cite the source of the information. Plagiarism - claiming that you wrote or drew something created by another person - is illegal, and committing plagiarism at school can be grounds for serious punishment.

Inappropriate Material

Just as in any city, there are areas in cyberspace that are not necessarily appropriate for children or teens. Just what those places are depends on the child, the family, and the community, but these typically include sites which are sexual in nature, which contain violent or hateful material, or which advocate the use of weapons or harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs.

Options (not necessarily recommendations) for preventing your child from being exposed to inappropriate material include:

Set rules about where kids can go online and what to do if they stumble upon inappropriate sites.
Keep any connected computer in a public area of the house (not a child's bedroom), and make sure that other family members walk in the room periodically.
Consider not allowing children and teens to use the Internet if parents aren't home. You may wish to consider using time-limiting software to make sure that kids can go online only when you're around.
Consider checking the browser history to see where kids have been and having a "talk" if they are visiting inappropriate sites.
Consider installing monitoring software that tracks where kids have been.
Consider installing filtering software that blocks kids from visiting sites that you feel are in appropriate.